Biologists in Mexico plan to tag hundreds of sharks off the Pacific Coast to help understand the cause of a rare spate of deadly attacks on humans, the local government said on Tuesday. Sharks near the southwestern resort of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo killed two surfers and maimed another in the past few weeks, the first fatal shark attacks along Mexico’s Pacific coast in 30 years, according to official records. Biologists plan to tag sharks and ask fisherman to look out for them and report back on their movements, Guerrero state Environment Secretary Sabas Arturo de la Rosa told Reuters. A smaller group of sharks will be tagged with electronic devices that would transmit data on their behavior and locations to biologists via radio frequencies, he said. The tagging is expected to begin in about two months and the study should last a year. “We need to get to the ‘why’ these animals are coming so close to Guerrero’s shores, which is so unusual,” De la Rosa said. Shark experts believe unusually cool sea-surface temperatures could be partly responsible for the attacks, but they also note that a dearth of data about sharks in the region makes it difficult to reach conclusions. The researchers plan to use a special baited fishing line to catch sharks in the area and then tag and release them, said Jose Leonardo Castillo, a shark expert with the National Fishing Institute who is involved with the project. Fishermen who come across tagged sharks will be compensated for reporting their location, Castillo said. More expensive telemetric tags on a smaller number of sharks will emit radio frequencies that scientists can track. Surfer Bruce Grimes from Texas recently became the third person to be bitten by a shark since late April. Grimes survived the attack but needed 100 stitches in his arm.

Credits for this report: Reuters

Possible Tresher or Silky Sharks display mating behavior in shallow water at Bahia de La Paz

A group of sharks (app.6-10), by the looks of tail fin Tresher Sharks has been sighted at the La Paz Malecon just a few meters of the beach. By there movements observed in video I guess is is some kind of a mating behavior then a feeding frenzy. I did observe a simular behavior with leopard sharks on  - remote - Baja California Sur beaches just within feet of the shoreline. Thats normaly during February - March. The Leopard Sharks "hang out" for about 3 weeks and then disappear again. What makes it different on this occasion is the location - right at the Malecon in La Paz in front of the Hotel Perla plus the type of shark. I was personal not present to identify the sharks and by observing the video I would say Tresher. What I can confirm is that there are Whalesharks around feeding in the bay. I got informed from a scuba friend on the video, the original post can be seen on this La Paz Blog.

He's got many names, these are just a few. Mainly he's known as Bull Shark or in South Africa the Zambezi Shark. This type of shark is considered one of the most dangerous species yet in many dives at the Protea Banks of Margate we never had the feeling of being "under attack". Of course that is based on experienced diving with this animal and being knowledgeable about their behavior. We did experience a few times. let's call it, extreme curiosity! Most the time the Zambezi Shark is just cruising by at some distance, on occasion he did charge directly at me and at the last moment made almost a u-turn with the tail almost ripping the regulator out of mouth. There was no otherwise aggressive behavior shown so i call it just "testing us"….. You may want to view this video with/by Dr. Erich Ritter. Continue Reading »
Zambezi Shark = Bull Shark, Freshwater Whalers, Lake Nicaragua Shark

We apologize for any inconvenience browsing our shark divers website. Shark Society is re-designing (with a helping hand from the Wwwizzards) and some of the pages are temporarily not available or not complete. Launch date for the new, 2008 season website design will be middle of February 2008. Many new features and several NEW dive locations in Mozambique and Madagascar. Stay tuned, it will be worth the waiting. In the meantime you may want to check out this Tigershark video from the Aliwal Shoal. We are not into chumming or baiting the sharks yet the producer of this video was….:( Continue Reading »
New Shark Society website design